The Dreadful End
by AdmiralBobbery
Summary: Three days. That's all it takes for the world to end. A virulent plague has swept through the Mushroom Kingdom, claiming one life after another with boiling fevers. But when the sick die...they come back. Not to life, but something suspended in between. Now Mario and his family must overcome the zombie apocalypse. Who will make it out alive?
1. Chapter 1-1: The Awakening

A/N: This story has been a passion project of mine for a very long time. I first uploaded this fic in spring of 2015 but I basically ripped off the show this is inspired from and didn't add a whole lot of originality. No wonder it flopped, only garnering about 10 reviews over 5 chapters which I was really working hard on. Now, I've redone the script and casted characters for weeks and weeks pinning down who would serve what roles best. I've extensively planned this story to go on for at least 70 chapters at the moment.

This fic is going to be very long, longer than any other story I've ever published by a very wide margin. It will feature nearly every Mario character you could think of with just a few exceptions. I hope you enjoy it, because I'm putting a lot of hard work into it! So without further ado, I present to you the opening chapter of – The Dreadful End.

* * *

The Dreadful End

Chapter 1-1: The Awakening

It was dark. Slowly opening his eyes, Mario could not tell if his eyes were truly open or if this was reality. Blinking a few times, his eyes adjusted to the pitch surrounding him. Mario confirmed it was indeed dark, black even, with not a hint of sunlight coming in. Where was the light? More importantly…where was he? Rubbing his head, Mario felt a dull throbbing coming from the back of his skull. Wincing in pain, he felt as if he should remember the source of his injury but nothing came to mind. Confused, alone, and beginning to grow afraid, Mario tried to stand up.

It was difficult, to say the least. His legs ached as if he hadn't used them for some time and his arms felt like jelly. Shakily coming to his feet, Mario felt around in the darkness. Stumbling forward, he felt around in the void until he came to a wall. He bumped into it, giving a little grunt of surprise. Feeling the wall to the right, Mario shimmied across the room until his hands touched the corner of his wall and a new one. Transferring to the new wall, Mario shimmied along until his hands touched something new. It felt like a window.

Feeling up and down, Mario could tell what he was touching were shutters. Fumbling around for a cord, Mario felt a cry of hope rush up inside of him as he pulled the small string and flipped the old shutters horizontally open. A ray of sunshine filtered in, momentarily blinding Mario as it hit him right in the eyes. Backing up, he held a hand up to block the light until his eyes could focus. Squinting, he approached the window cautiously and peered out into the world.

Cracked earth and ruin surrounded him. However, this was normal for where he was. The badlands, inhabited by a nefarious gang of koopas bent on nothing but brewing trouble. Slowly, memories began to collect themselves at the back of Mario's mind. Nodding, he remembered why he had come out to the badlands and this place. The mayor of Toad Town had asked Mario to look into the Koopa Bros. Fortress. Apparently, the pesky ninjakoopas had been plundering local shops and were starting their wicked ways up once more. Coming out to the fortress, Mario had made to talk reason into the koopas, perhaps supplement his talk with boot and hammer, and then return to Toad Town. But something had happened.

That accounted for the dull pain in the back of his head. One of the sneaky turtles must've knocked him out from behind. Groaning, Mario let the shutters open wide and staggered back as a full beam of light entered the room. Adjusting once more, he turned around and surveyed the room. There was a bed, which was what he had been laying on. A sink and a toilet completed the room with gray concrete walls. Nothing much to look at, which made Mario assume this was part of the fortress's jail. Scowling, he wondered how long he had been out.

Stomping over to the door, which was a slab of concrete akin to the walls but finished with a three-barred window at the top of it, Mario wrapped his hands around the iron bars. Trying to peer out into the dank hallway, Mario had no luck.

"Hey!" he cried. There was no response. Looking down the door, Mario tried the handle. To his immediate surprise, the door was unlocked. Skeptical, Mario slowly heaved the heavy door open and poked his head out into the hall. What lay within frightened the otherwise heroic man.

The lights above the hall flickered on and off, casting eerie bursts of light and then darkness upon the musty hallway. The walls were coated with black grime, decaying with mold from the general neglect the Koopa Bros. served the fortress. But that was normal. What truly terrified Mario was the blood. In thick coagulated puddles the blood pooled along the floor of the hall. The walls were coated with spatter and starbursts of crimson. Shivering, Mario put one brown boot out of the room and carried himself into the scarlet-streaked hallway. The haunting ambience of the flickering lights made the sight of the blood all the more horrifying.

Mario inched along, keeping to the center of the hall as to avoid the blood-soaked walls. Coming to a corner, he rounded it, fear welling up inside of him for what might lay on the other side. The fear was justly felt, for the next hall was filled with more blood and something more. A body. Crying out, Mario took a step back and mistakenly laid his back against the wall. Hearing the sickening sap of blood sticking to his shirt, Mario whirled around and took three hurried steps backwards. Stumbling over his feet, he fell to the floor, his head landing inches from the gaunt head of a dead koopa. Screaming, Mario scuttled forward and flipped around on his stomach, rising shakily.

He inspected the body, face contorting into a disturbed frown. Old blood stuck dry from three bullet holes in the koopa's chest. One finite hole marked his forehead, black blood frozen to it. A yellow bandana marked the koopa, complimenting his shell and boots. Mario recognized this corpse. It was one of the Koopa Bros. Now thinking he was in some sort of horrific nightmare, Mario sidled past the body and continued down the hall, his eyes affixed on the carcass until he made it to another corner. Not mentally prepared to handle more carnage, Mario took a deep breath and braved the turn.

This hall was relatively cleaner than the others. Mold and blood still hung thick from the walls, but there was no body. The blood, there was so much of it. Mario wondered where all of it had come from. Paying no attention to his fear, Mario rushed forward as he spotted a set of double doors at the end of this hall. Ambling forwards, he picked up his gait to a trot and shoved the doors open. Harsh and blinding beams of light shot him in the eyes, causing him to bend his neck and cover his face momentarily. Adjusted now, he raised his eyes and surveyed the land.

He was outside of the fortress, the prison being on the base floor. The fresh air and lack of blood was refreshing. Looking around, Mario pinpointed the path leading out of the badlands. It was the same road he had taken here…how many days ago? Mario couldn't be sure, still unaware of how long he had been out for. Shrugging off the amnesia, he decided he'd get his answers from Peach or Luigi when he made it back to town. They were probably worried sick about him and he needed to tell someone about the body. What happened here while Mario was imprisoned?

Mario was just about to set off on the path when he heard a low groan. Spooked by the sudden sound, Mario whipped around to see one of the Koopa Bros. shuffling towards him, the red one. His jaw was hanging open limply, blood and decay marking the interior of his mouth. His eyes were soulless and pure white. Arms hung limply by his side but raised in fevered hunger upon seeing Mario, clawing out with the makings of want. He picked up speed, dragging one twisted foot behind him. The sight was terrifying, causing Mario to back up.

"H-hey…" Mario said quietly, "y-you don't look so good. Do you need help?" Ever the model citizen, Mario was more concerned about helping this koopa out instead of worrying about his own safety. The thought did not occur to him that he might be dangerous until the koopa was upon him. He lashed out at Mario with clacking gnashing teeth and outstretched limbs. Backing up, Mario was too slow. The koopa forced itself on him, trying to tear into Mario's right arm. Shoving the creature away from him, Mario called out.

"Hey! What's the big idea!?"

Red bro didn't reply. He immediately came back, not pausing for a second. He was deadest on having Mario for lunch, but the hero couldn't figure out why. Sensing that his life was in danger, Mario picked up a loose rock at his feet and waited for the koopa to come close. It grabbed Mario by the arm, twisting and producing a strangled cry of pain. Raising the rock in his hands, Mario bashed the sorry koopa in the head and sent him tumbling towards the ground. He did not stir.

Had Mario just killed him? Dropping the rock, he looked around the badlands and the exterior of the Koopa Bros. Fortress. What had just happened? Why did he look so haunting and why…w-why had he tried to eat Mario's arm? Where were his brothers, Green and Black? So many questions hurtled through Mario's mind. He knew he needed to get back to Toad Town immediately. His friends and family, especially his adoptive daughter, Lumalee, were missing him. Without a second thought, Mario tore down the path leading out of the badlands.

* * *

"It's been three days," Wario grumbled, picking at the loose ear wax in the corner of his right ear.

"W-we said we would wait three days," Luigi said meekly, his hands shaking and his chin wobbling in fear. His brother had been missing for three days since he went to check on Koopa Bros. Fortress, and in those three days, the world had come to an end. In the course of seventy-two hours, a virulent plague had swept through the neighboring kingdoms and ripped humanity straight from its seemingly unshakeable core. The balance of the world had been tipped upside down and kicked back around as those gripped with the infection passed away in a matter of hours from uncontrollably surging fevers. But when they died, they didn't stay dead.

They rose; hungry for flesh.

Locked within the conference room of Peach's Castle, a group of survivors huddled together. The streets of the kingdom were no longer safe, teeming with ravenous gloombas and dry bones. Toads, shopkeepers, people they had known were shambling about in search of their next meal, dead but unable to leave the cold grip they were in. Contact with the Beanbean Kingdom had dipped first. Then the grid fell in Sarasaland. The plague had called for peaceable communications between Lord Bowser Koopa and Princess Peach, and while Bowser had said Kamek was working on a cure, their servers went down soon after. Alone, alive, and afraid, those who occupied the conference room believed they were the only ones who had survived the infection in Mushroom Kingdom.

At the head of a long table, Peach clutched a neon aqua Luma in between her hands. Shivering and fearful for her father, Lumalee Toadstool clung on to every shred of hope that he was alive. She burrowed into her mother, trying to hold back her tears but unable to. Peach gave her reassuring pats here and there, trying to calm her quivering daughter while leading the group of survivors.

"It's your call, princess," Waluigi muttered, leaning against the wall.

"You can't expect me to abandon my husband," she fired back instantaneously.

"Princess!" Toadsworth blurted, his words shaking with the hollow fear they held. "We can't hide in the castle for much longer. We have transport stationed outside the castle, waiting and ready to take us to sparsely populated land. The crowds of roaming…whatever they may be, will only grow with each passing day. We cannot sit idle and expect…"

Peach cut her aide off. "Then go," she told him. "Take those who wish to leave and go."

"Y-you can't be serious?" Toadsworth asked.

Before Peach could open her mouth, Wario stepped forward. "Wait a minute, hear her out. It makes sense. We can't stay here for any longer, but we can't just leave Mario out there. For all we know, he's holed up trying to make his way back to us. But Toadsworth is right, princess. We can't sit idle. Those who wish to leave should go, and some of us should stay behind and wait a bit longer for Mario."

Luigi shivered at the thought of his brother walking around the badlands aimlessly, a soulless monster with an unquenchable desire for flesh and blood. Having the same thoughts, Lumalee let a few tears fall onto her mother's rose t-shirt.

"Splitting up…it's unthinkable, I can't let the princess…" Toadsworth muttered but found himself interrupted once more, this time by DK.

"I don't think those rules apply anymore, Toadsworth," the ape told the aide. "We have to think about survival. Chiefly, you need to start thinking for yourself. What kingdom is there left for you to manage, old man?"

"Now you wait one…" Toadsworth began but was cut off for a third time, beginning to grow rather annoyed.

"He's right, Toadsworth," said the princess. "Look around you. The kingdom is gone. All of the kingdoms are gone. You don't need to worry about me anymore. In fact, I need you to worry about everyone else. I need you to lead some of us to safety, away from here."

"But how will we contact you?" Toadsworth asked, fearful of losing the princess.

"I salvaged some two-way transistor radios from my shop," Plenn T. said, rummaging through the brown duffel bag he bore on his shoulder. He produced two black radios with small antennas. "Pick a channel and you can communicate with one another for up to a hundred mile radius." The shopkeeper handed one to Toadsworth and placed one on the table next to the princess.

"So who's staying and who's going?" Waluigi asked.

"Oh this is ridiculous," Toadette piped up, stepping in front of her brother, Toad. "We can't split up! What if we never reunite?"

"It's the only thing we can do, sis," Toad told her, trying to sound reassuring. "We can't all stay here, like Toadsworth said. But Wario's right when he says some of us should wait for Mario. We'd be so much stronger with him by our side, we can't give up hope yet."

Toadette grumbled something under her breath but had to agree. Alongside she and her brother, only four others occupied the room. Toadiko and Toadbert, Toadsworth's two children, Diddy Kong, DK's son, and Parakarry, the local mailman who Plenn T. had rescued outside his shop. Together there were fourteen of them. Still shaking, Luigi not only worried for Mario's safety, but for that of his girlfriend, Daisy. She had been governing her people in Sarasaland when they lost contact with her. Unsure of her fate, it was the not knowing that was killing Luigi. His brother and his girlfriend, the two people who meant the most to him, were missing.

"I'll stay," Luigi immediately said. "He's my brother."

"He's my husband," Peach concurred, "like I'm not staying behind. Ha, I have to."

"T-then I wanna stay," Lumalee said shakily.

"No," Peach asserted herself. "You can't stay here, it's too dangerous. Toadsworth will take good care of you."

"But I want to be here when…" Lumalee began but was swiftly put down by her mother.

"No, Lumalee," Peach said sternly. "I won't put you in danger like this."

"But the castle is safe!" she protested.

"For now," Peach told her. "But if something happens…I'd like to know you had a fighting chance, my dear. Please, go with Toadsworth and the others. We'll be safe here and once Daddy returns, we'll all be back."

Sniffling, Lumalee floated from her mother and over to Toadsworth, who gave her a little pat. She was fond of the old aide, who had helped nursed her from birth. Lumalee didn't even remember her birth parents or anything of the foster system. Peach and Mario had adopted her soon after her birth, and this castle was her home. Leaving it behind it felt wrong in a way. It was like her home had been destroyed.

"I'll stay too," Wario said once that was over with. "Three should be enough."

"W-wait!" Waluigi barked. "I'm not going to leave you here!"

"I won't have you stay behind," Wario growled, his clenched teeth and stern expression concealing a deep care for his best friend.

"But Wario…" Waluigi said quietly.

"Go, Waluigi. Toadsworth needs your help," Wario argued. Seeing the reason in that, Waluigi shook his head and shouldered the rifle he had leaning beside him. Waluigi was a sharp shot, and Wario was right when he said Toadsworth could use his help. In staying behind, Wario was depriving the group of their strongest fighter. They would certainly need all the extra muscle they could get.

"Channel two," Toadsworth told Peach. "Once we make it outside of the city, I'll radio you."

"Be safe," Peach told him, tearing up as she looked at Lumalee in his arms. "We'll only stay here for another day."

Luigi somberly agreed.

Nodding, the others said their goodbyes. For a moment, Lumalee wouldn't let go of her mother as she went to hug her.

"It's time to say goodbye," Peach told her, her heart feeling like it was ripping apart. As a mother, she wanted to be by her daughter's side, but she couldn't place her in danger. If the castle was overrun, she couldn't live with herself if something happened to Lumalee. Placing her outside the city with a bigger group was her best shot. Pulling apart from her daughter, Peach kissed her forehead and turned, unable to let her daughter see her cry.

"It'll be fine, princess," Wario said, trying to sound reassuring. The others had left the room now, filing out of the castle. The three in the conference room, using the large monitors that serviced every camera in the castle, watched them quickly pile into two vans and pull away from the castle. Supplies had been loaded up into the vans prior to today so they could make their getaway when Mario arrived. Toadsworth had left Peach's pink Jeep behind. It had four seats, one for each of them, including Mario. Holding onto nothing but hope, Peach mustered up what little strength she had to respond to Wario.

"He'll make it back," she said tearfully, brushing a salty drop aside. "He has to." Swallowing, Luigi tried to mirror her courage, but he wasn't so sure. Worrying about Daisy and Mario, he slumped down in his chair and resigned to waiting. At the head of the room, Wario watched as the vans left the corner of the monitor. They were on their own now. Hope in their hearts, they began the final day of waiting. Mario had to return, and if he didn't make it back in twenty-four hours, he would be left behind.

* * *

Coming to the edge of the badlands, Mario found himself out of breath. He had run and run and run after killing that horrifying Koopa Bro. Panting on the edge of Toad Town, Mario knew all he had to do now was open the large gate and he'd be back in town. Dragging his boots towards the gate, it took him a moment to notice the gate guard was missing from his post.

 _Odd_ , Mario thought. _Where was he?_ Every day the gate guard was posted outside of Toad Town, one for each entrance. Mario had never seen them gone from their post, even on festival days. Fear and paranoia crept back up within him. Unsure of what was going on, Mario still wondered if this was some sort of nightmare. The corpse, the attack, and now this guard? Shaking his head, Mario believed he'd find all the answers in Toad Town back at the castle. Manually opening the gate with the lever in the guard booth, Mario walked back around and stepped into Toad Town. The answer to his questions presented itself to him.

A massive crowd of zombified koopas, goombas, and Toads all turned their heads towards Mario at the sound of the gate. Standing alone and unarmed at the foot of a hoard of undead, Mario felt fear grasp him in a paralyzing state. A stone statue on the edge of town, Mario could not believe the sight the lay before his eyes. Groaning and moaning, the legion of zombies shuffled towards Mario, picking up their speed as they centered in on the lone hero.

* * *

"What's that!?" Wario cried, jamming a finger at the northeast monitor. "The whole horde around the castle is moving!"

"They're moving quick, too," Luigi observed, unsure of what the sudden change in the horde's movement could mean.

"Wario," Peach commanded swiftly, "change that monitor to the eastern gate camera. It looks like their moving towards the exit to the…" she realized what the final word in her sentence was.

"The badlands!" Luigi exclaimed, euphoria rising but then soon dying as he realized what this might mean. Moving like lightning, Wario typed in a command on the computer, bringing up the monitor by the gate. Sure enough, standing there eyes wide with fear, was Mario. Relief and glee were not emotions the three in the conference room had time to experience. Mario was in dire trouble, and if they didn't do anything to help him, he would be zombie lunch in a matter of moments.

"Why isn't he running?" Luigi asked, panic infecting his voice. "Why is he just standing there!?"

"I-I don't know!" Peach shouted back, the intensity of the situation heightening the volume of her voice.

"Both of you shut up!" Wario hollered, not taking his eyes off the monitor. Scanning the keyboard, Wario went to the console command and began typing.

"What are you doing?" Luigi asked.

"Princess," Wario said, ignoring Luigi's question, "what's the input code for the bells?"

"The bells?" she asked, not sure what he meant.

"The bells, woman, the bells! Those big beautiful brass bells you keep at the top of your castle! Forgot about those, huh? The noise they make might be the only thing that could drive the horde away from Mario! Do you want your hubby to look like that stupid spaghetti sauce he adores so much?" Wario snapped feverishly.

"O-oh! The bells!" Peach exclaimed. "The code is CHIME."

Wario quickly typed in the word and then pressed ENTER. Nothing happened at first.

"I-it takes a moment," Peach supplied.

"We don't have a moment!" Wario growled. He typed in MICROPHONE on the computer and pressed his lips to the microphone on the desk. "Hey fat-nose!" he hollered. "RUN!"

* * *

Outside the castle in Toad Town, Mario could see the herd of zombies moving closer and closer. They gnashed their rotten green teeth and approached him with hungry hands. Fear kept him implanted to the ground, as if a structure of roots had taken hold of him right there. His trance seemed unbreakable.

"Hey fat-nose!" came Wario's voice over the castle loudspeaker, ringing out loud but with a bit of static. "RUN!"

It was as if something had shattered within Mario. Wario's call to action broke whatever spell had him frozen to the ground. Turning on his heels, Mario threw his head over his shoulder to look back at the crowd one last time before taking off. Just then, the bells above the castle began to chime with a clanging cacophony of metal on brass. The sharp melody turned the attention of the horde away from their midafternoon snack and towards the castle.

* * *

"W-what are we going to do?" Luigi asked, biting the ends of one of his fingernails. "The whole horde is coming straight for the castle now!"

Wario gritted his teeth. His gamble hadn't paid off. Now Mario had fled back into the badlands with no way to the castle because the whole herd was advancing on the very castle they wanted Mario to head towards. "We've got find some way to get him to the back of the castle," Wario said. "If he can meet us by the Jeep, then we can all make it out of Toad Town together."

"How can we do that?" Peach asked. "Cellphone towers are down and the only source of power left in town is in this very room. We have no way to contact him."

"Then we have to go fetch him ourselves," Wario said.

"Are you insane!?" Luigi cried. "We'd get torn to p-p-pieces out there!" The thought of becoming zombie food was not appealing to the man in green.

"It's our only shot!" Wario barked back. "We take the Jeep and try and make it through the hoard."

"You're totally…" Luigi prepared to insult Wario once more but Peach cut him off. That seemed to be a habit of hers.

"He's right, Luigi," she said. "It's the only thing we can think to do. The zombies will be upon the castle soon. We have to leave. Now." Sighing, Luigi realized that with both of them in favor of Wario's plan, he was outnumbered. Resigning himself to their judgment, he agreed to the idea he deemed very, very stupid.

* * *

Leaving the castle was the easy part. Peach's pink Jeep was behind the castle where the zombies hadn't made it to yet. Wario devised a plan to drive around the side of the castle, through the back of Toad Town, and then mow down a section of the herd blocking the gate with the Jeep. It'd be difficult, but it might just work.

"It might work?" Luigi asked, not sold once Wario had gone over the whole plan. "I'm not betting my life on a maybe."

"Well maybe is as good as it's gonna get if you wanna save your brother," Wario grumbled. Hopping into the driver's seat, the plump man made sure his revolver was locked and loaded. He had kept it in his home for safety reasons, but now it was starting to come in handy what with the sudden advent of the apocalypse. Climbing into the passenger's seat, Peach buckled herself in. Muttering something under his breath, Luigi clambered into the backseat as the Jeep roared to life.

"We're all gonna die," Luigi mumbled.

"We can't die," Peach told him. "Not yet. There's still a few things left I need do. I'm seeing my daughter again…and Mario too."

Luigi's thoughts drifted towards Daisy. He truly hoped she was alright. His daydreaming was interrupted by Wario, who shouted something as they rounded the corner of the castle. The zombies were thick, blocking their way. Taking a sharp left, Wario careened through the hedges of the castle's courtyard. Peach felt it a shame to let her beautiful landscaping die under the wrath of the Jeep's front tires, but with the state of the world, tulips were no longer her concern.

Circumventing the herd, the Jeep jostled into the main square of Toad Town, now free from the courtyard. The gate that Mario had been by wasn't far, but a swarm of zombies blocked the way, shambling towards the car. Seeing no other way around, Wario gunned the engine and sent the car cannonballing towards the zombies. They crushed the first few under the hood of the car, the sickening crunch of body and bone splashing up from underneath. Then, the herd became thick. Arms reached up towards the Jeep as the undead moaned for the flesh inside. They surrounded the car, groaning as viscera pooled from their mouths. Red chunks leaked out; the asphalt drank.

"Get back!" Wario cried, firing a round into a nearby zombie's head. The gunshot rang loud and clear, alerting the rest of the herd. Luigi and Peach screamed as the zombies swarmed the Jeep, Wario doing his best to evade them. Two more shots into the crowd, dropping two undead koopas to the ground. Clearing the way a bit, Wario revved the Jeep and tore through the walking dead. With three shots left in the gun, he hoped he didn't have to use them.

They neared the gate, leaving much of the crowd behind. Coming from the right, a zombie neared Peach. She leaned back to let Wario take care of it, grey matter oozing from the back of its head as it collapsed to the ground. They were free now, with only two bullets left at their disposal. The Jeep passed through the gate and into the beginning of the badlands.

* * *

Having covered a bit of ground, Mario looked behind himself as he entered the badlands. What had those things been? They reminded him of the way the ninjakoopa he had killed looked. Grisly and dripping blood, those creatures looked dead…but they were alive somehow. Mind still clouded with questions, Mario wondered where to go. The voice over the castle intercom had sounded a lot like Wario's, but was that really him? What was the burly man doing inside the castle? Where was Peach, Lumalee, Luigi? Sighing, Mario was unsure of what to do.

That's when he heard the engine. Low and rumbling, its sound pierced his eardrums. Turning around, Mario bore witness to his wife's bright pink Jeep Wrangler coming in to the badlands. In the driver's seat sat Wario, sweaty and breathing heavy. In the passenger's seat, his beautiful wife. Behind them, his brother.

"There you are!" Wario cried, cutting the engine off and hopping out of the car. "You've caused a good bit of trouble, ya know?" Nearly vaulting out of the car, Peach dropped from the Jeep and ran over to Mario, hugging him tightly. Hugging her back, Mario pulled away and planted a kiss on her cheeks.

"I thought I'd never see you again," she said, eyes brimming with tears of joy. Laughing, Luigi came over to his brother, shaking his hand and pulling him in for a hug.

"Oh man bro…I thought you were a goner…we all did," Luigi said, pinching himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming of his brother's safe return.

"W-what…w-why?" Mario began, confused. "Why would you all think I was dead? I know I was gone a long time…and what…what were those things? There was one at the Koopa Bros. Fortress. One of the bros was dead and another came at me, but he looked dead…he looked dead and he tried to bite me…"

"Are you bit!?" Wario asked immediately, eyes flashing with concern.

"N-no!" Mario stammered. "W-why?"

"That's how it transfers, through bites," Luigi said.

"What transfers?" Mario asked, blinking slowly. Exchanging glances, Peach, Luigi and Wario all swallowed.

"You mean…" Peach began, "you mean you don't know?"

"Know what?" Mario asked, beginning to grow irritated.

"The world's come to an end, Mario," Wario told him. "While you were away, the world stopped, at least for a good while."

Mario's eyes widened. He looked around quickly, noticing the absence of his daughter. Peach interpreted what these signs meant.

"She's safe," she said, stilling his swiveling head with a gentle touch of her hand. "She's outside of town with Toadsworth and some others. We can travel there now."

"We stayed behind to wait for you, bro," Luigi said, smiling. "Thank God…thank God we did."

Mario sighed, breathing deep with relief. They led him back to the car, everyone's spirits uplifted as Mario climbed into the back with Luigi, feeling grateful that his loved ones had survived whatever epidemic was causing this. Wario stuck the key in the ignition, turned it, and the Jeep roared to life. Pulling out of the badlands, the four of them headed back the way they came. The crowd had meandered towards the sound of the bells, leaving the way open. Peach spoke through the radio, reaching Toadsworth and telling him they had found Mario, that he was safe.

Mario looked up to the sun. The world seemed the same as it always had, but he had received the answers to his questions. As Wario said, the world had ended, and everyone's goals, individual dreams and hopes and desires had all turned towards one thing: survival.


	2. Chapter 1-2: Home's Not Home

The Dreadful End

Chapter 1-2: Home's not Home

Upon leaving the conference room, Toadsworth led himself and ten others down the winding halls of Peach's Castle. The interior had held up, looking as pristine as ever despite the destruction of the outside world. Using his cane for support, the old toad brought everyone to the back door of the castle.

"There shouldn't be anything out there, right?" Diddy asked his father, eyes expectant and wide with lingering fear. DK shook his head.

"No, no," he told his son. "T-those things haven't seemed to make their way around the castle yet." Armed just in case, Waluigi and Plenn T. opened the doors and held them open for everyone to flow through. Ensuring the coast was clear, they closed the doors and barred them tight. There was no turning back now.

"Quickly!" Toadsworth bellowed. "To the vans!" Obeying his call to action, everyone hurried over to the two large vans stationed behind the castle. The backs of them were crammed with supplies from the castle and stores around the city. They had been able to salvage some helpful things before the kingdom completely collapsed. Jugs of gasoline, perishable food, flashlights, tents, sleeping bags, and other various survival items lay in a cluttered heap in the trunk of each passenger van. DK would drive one and Waluigi the other. Diddy, DK, Toadette, Toad, Plenn T. and Parakarry went in one van. Toadsworth, Lumalee, Toadiko, Toadbert and Waluigi crammed into the other. The engines roared to life, their sound undetectable to the hoard on the other side of the castle. Pulling away from the castle, the vans began their trek down the dusty backways of the Mushroom Kingdom.

"What's out this way?" Parakarry asked. "I've never been down the roads behind the castle."

"Nothing," DK said in reply. "It's undeveloped land. Forests and prairies…a lot of nothing. It'll be safe out here, away from all the life in the city." Reflecting on his sentence, DK wasn't so sure he could exactly call it "life". Hunkering down in his seat, Parakarry wondered where they'd eventually make camp. Nothing out here seemed…safe. It was all wide open with maybe a few trees around. Frowning, he clung on to hope.

The two vans rattled down the dirt paths leading out of the kingdom for some time. The castle had disappeared behind them long ago, and now only wilderness surrounded the group of eleven survivors. They hoped Peach, Wario and Luigi would remain safe. Above all, they hoped Mario would return. These thoughts churned in their minds until something appeared to distract them. The first van slowly ground to a halt, causing DK to push the brakes in confusion.

"What's going on?" Toad asked, voice laden with concern. "Is there something blocking the way?"

"O-oh God," Parakarry said with a stammer. "I hope none of those…those things are all the way out here."

Waluigi's voice came in over the radio. Both vans had communicators built into the FM stations, allowing for easy communication between them. "Hold up," they heard Waluigi say. "There's some people on the side of the road."

"Alive?" DK asked, almost barking the response back into his communicator.

"Appears so," Waluigi said, hanging up. Frowning, DK looked back at everyone in his van. They looked afraid, but their attention was soon captured by the sound of a car door closing. Toadsworth and Waluigi had hopped out of their van. Wanting to see what the commotion was, DK opened his door.

"Dad, wait," Diddy sound, fearful for his father.

"Stay here," DK told his son and the others. "Parakarry, please keep an eye on everyone. Plenn T., come with me." The shopkeeper obeyed, his thick mustache wiggling as he moved his mouth around in thought. Exiting the van, DK and Plenn T. soon joined Waluigi and Toadsworth on the side of the road. They were conversing with a middle-aged female toad and a rather large male toad.

"Who're these people?" Plenn T. asked, not recognizing them in the sunlight.

"By the grace of God, others made it out of the city," came the female's voice. "Plenn T., is that you?"

"T-Tayce?" Plenn T. asked, now getting a better look at the woman. She had a yellow speckled cap and wore an apron, clutching a frying pan in one hand. She shouldered a heavy backpack, so did her companion. He was rather rotund, allowing him to bear quite a bit of weight.

"Heff T. and I thought the whole city had gone under," Tayce T. said, wiping her free hand on her apron. "We took what we had and split out of the city when things looked at their best."

"It's a relief to see other survivors," Toadsworth said with a smile. "Neither of you are sick or hurt?"

"Neither of us," Heff T. said, stressing the point. It was the most important question asked these days. Those with bites would fall victim to the fever in a matter of hours. Relieved neither of the toads were bit, the others embraced them.

"Where were you planning on heading?" Waluigi asked them. "There's nothing around here for miles."

Tayce's pack jingled as she adjusted herself. "There's an old encampment up the road a ways. Good cover of trees and a peaceful stream nearby. We just wanted to get outside of the city, wait for a cure."

Toadsworth's forehead wrinkled. Having been an administrator within the castle, he knew the outlook of a cure was slim. Resigning himself to his better judgment, he decided not to inform the two newcomers of this news at the moment. Neither of them seemed to notice his look of consternation.

"Well walking is certainly slower than driving," Toadsworth told them. "You're welcome to come with us. We wouldn't want you to die from exhaustion out in this sun."

"It is mighty hot," Heff T. said, wiping his sweaty forehead with a white rag. "We can show you where this enclosure is. This is all the supplies we happen to have, though."

"Not to worry," Plenn T. said with a grin. "We managed to snag a good amount of supplies and food before leaving the city."

"How many of you are there?" Tayce asked.

"Eleven," Toadsworth said. "We left three back at the castle to wait for another."

"I hope they make it out alright," Tayce said, trying to give him a comforting smile. All Toadsworth could do was nod. He was incredibly worried about the fate of the princess, but he tried not to show his emotions like he had earlier in the castle. Waluigi led Heff T. and Tayce T. to the van, opening it up and introducing them to the others inside.

DK and Plenn T. returned to their van, soon ambushed by a bunch of questions from those they had left behind.

"Waluigi spotted two survivors on the side of the road," DK told them. "Tayce T., the old chef from Toad Town, and Heff T., her rather large companion."

"They're nice people," Plenn T. said, "provided Heff T. may eat a little too much for his own good, but they're nice nonetheless." Toad and Toadette shared a concerned look. They didn't want this Heff T. fellow gobbling up all of their food. It was a limited resource now, and if one consumed too much, the others wouldn't be left with enough.

Their thoughts were interrupted by the low hum of the other van's engine. It looked like they were taking off again.

"Where are we going?" Diddy asked, hoping they had devised some sort of plan while they were out there.

"Tayce T. and Heff T. said they were headed towards a wooded enclosure up the road," DK told his son. "We should be safe there. It's densely thicketed and outside of the city." He gave Diddy a reassuring pat on the head accompanied with a smile. Diddy's spirits were lifted for the moment, but this new world always had him brimming with fright.

* * *

Eventually, the two vans rounded upon this enclosure. Tayce T. and Heff T. had been telling the truth. There were a thick amount of trees and the enclosure was backed against a wide stream, providing good protection. The canopy above shielded them from the wrath of the sun, making the temperature within the area nice and cool. Parking the vans just outside the line of trees, the thirteen of them pooled out of the vans and surveyed the land around them.

It didn't look like home. A pang of homesickness swelled within Lumalee's chest. The aqua luma deeply missed her mother and father. Without either of them here, she felt abandoned. Either of them could be…dead, morphed into one of those sickening things shambling around in search of flesh. The mere thought brought tears to her eyes. Retreating within the van, Lumalee snuggled up against one of the cushy seats. Noticing this, Toadsworth frowned at Toadette and followed Lumalee back in.

Outside the van, Toadette sighed. "Looks like we're home," she said to her brother. Toad looked out over their sylvan surroundings, digesting the area.

"I guess you're right," he said with a tinge of somberness to his tone. The two of them began to help the others unload things from the van. Tayce T. and Heff T. were already helping with the construction of camp. They weren't very large, but the seeds of a community were beginning to be sown.

* * *

"Lumalee," Toadsworth said softly, sitting down next to the weeping luma. "Lumalee, please don't cry. I know your mother and father will be back soon. Mario's a strong man, he's fought a thousand battles tougher than this one."

She found his words only mildly comforting. Happy platitudes were all they were. Toadsworth was trying his best to comfort the somber star but without knowing the truth, how could he believe his own words? Mario might be back safe and sound…or the three they left behind might be forced to fight their way out of the castle. Pulling Lumalee into a hug, Toadsworth pretended like it was for her safety…but even the old aide was in need of comfort in these terrible times. The two of them huddled within the van, unsure of what the future might hold.

"Do you think they'll make it back?" Lumalee asked, rolling over in his lap. Her large eyes were shaking with the opaque beginnings of a fresh set of tears. Toadsworth could barely bring himself to meet her eyes.

"I-I think they will," he said, trying to muster enough courage for the both of them. "Your mother is wise, Luigi is smart, and Mario and Wario are very strong men. You couldn't think of a better team." After saying that, he truly did believe his own words. The four of them were strong. If they could find Mario, he was sure they could make it back. They just had to find him…

* * *

"It started about the night on the day you left," Wario said over the whipping wind of the wildlands around them. The open cover of the Jeep made them susceptible to the elements, but the rewards of better visibility and fresh air made it all worth it. "Reports said there was a bright flash over the kingdoms. No one knows what it came from. After that, people started getting sick. Some of us just weren't susceptible to the virus or were lucky enough to be indoors at the time."

"After the people got sick," Luigi said, continuing the tale, "they accrued a nasty fever. It claimed their lives in just hours. But when they died, they didn't stay dead. They reanimated into all of those terrible zombies you saw back in town. I…I can't fathom Daisy ending up like that."

"You haven't heard from Daisy?" Mario asked, looking very worried.

"She was managing the virus in Sarasaland. It hit all of the kingdoms," Luigi explained. "We had contact with her for about a day and a half before her kingdom went dark."

"I managed to make it out," Peach said. "I'm sure Daisy did too."

Luigi just looked at the floor of the Jeep, pinching his nose in an effort to stop his emotions outwardly showing themselves. Now that Mario was back with them, he spent every moment thinking about Daisy. Was she alright? Was she one of those carnivorous zombies? Luigi could barely stomach the thought of her stumbling around the deserts of Sarasaland wearing a tattered orange dress, her jaw open and leaking…

"I just can't believe you made it back in one piece," Wario said with a laugh, breaking apart Luigi's inner torment. "Man…I, well we, thought you were gone. What happened to you, anyway?"

Recalling the horrific events at the Koopa Bros. Fortress, Mario began to recount his tale. He told them about waking up in the jail cell and finding the door to be unlocked. He noted the dull pain in the back of his head, the blood on the walls and the flickering lights. Then he described the body of Yellow and the condition of Red. He even told them how he bashed Red's head in with a loose rock. Eventually it all led back to finding them…or well, the three of them finding him.

"You almost were roamer bait," Wario said with a laugh.

"Roamer bait?" Mario asked, unsure what that expression meant.

"I've taken to calling the undead 'roamers'," Wario told him. "The way they roam about aimlessly in search of food…it seems fitting."

"It's classless," Peach said with a snort. "They were all people, they still are."

"If you think that way," Wario told her, "you're not going to make it very far in this new world. I see those things for what they are. Roamers. You think you can have a nice conversation with one while it tries to rip your arm from its socket? I don't think so, princess. I don't think you do, either."

Peach just swallowed her words, not wanting to agree with him. It was hard not to. He had very valid points. Mario had to agree as well. He had tried talking to Red, but the koopa hadn't heard a single word. Probably because he couldn't. The undead were only motivated by the scent of flesh. You can't reason with hunger.

* * *

Toadsworth was still sitting in the van with Lumalee when a crinkle of static came from the two-way radio Plenn T. had given him. Bolting up in his lap, Lumalee's eyes darted towards the radio with fevered anticipation. Fishing it out of his coat, Toadsworth extended the antenna and turned it to Channel Two.

"H-Hello!?" he cried, hoping the source of the static had been the princess.

"Toadsworth!" came the voice of Peach. "Can you hear me?"

"Mama!" Lumalee shouted happily. "Mama we can hear you!"

"Oh Lumalee," Peach said, her voice awash with relief. "I'm so glad you're safe. Is Toadsworth treating you nicely? Are you being respectful?"

"Y-yes!" Lumalee chirped. "We're all fine!" Toadsworth took over from there.

"We found a wooded clearing a ways down the dirt roads leading from Toad Town," Toadsworth told Peach. "Have you had any luck searching for Master Mario?" Despite the end of his official job, Toadsworth simply couldn't drop the formalities of respect he was so used to using.

"Yes," Peach said, causing Lumalee to almost faint from glee. "He shortly arrived at the castle after you all left. We managed to rescue him from the crowd moving around the streets. All four of us are here. We're headed towards you now."

Toadsworth and Lumalee were so glad they could barely form words. "T-that's astounding news, princess!"

"Daddy!?" Lumalee cried into the radio.

"Hey there sweetheart," came Mario's voice, adopting a fatherly tone. "We're on our way to you. Hold tight, we'll be there soon." Hearing her father's voice made Lumalee's hopes soar. With her parents safe and sound, the little Luma didn't have to worry anymore. They would reach the clearing soon, and despite the horrid conditions of the world, they'd be together.

* * *

"Toadsworth said this clearing was up the road a ways," Wario repeated what he had heard. "I wonder how he found out about it?"

"That is odd," Peach commented. "We've never been back here. There's nothing to see. He wouldn't know about anything like that."

"Maybe one of the others did?" Luigi supplied. His brother questioned how many of them there were, so Luigi listed all those who survived.

"What about Yoshi? Bowser? Rosalina?" Mario asked, naming some people who had been large parts of their lives.

"We don't know," Peach answered sadly. "Yoshi's Island, the Koopa Kingdom, the Comet Observatory, and even Sarasaland were too far away for us to hear from. Rosalina might not even know anything's happened all the way up there in space."

The thought of someone being completely oblivious to the perils of this new world made Mario shiver. He had been that way for three whole days. The thought of someone else being his situation made him feel bad, even if he didn't know for sure. Sighing, he continued to look out around the land that surrounded them. In the distance, the shapes of trees began to form.

"Looks like we're getting close," Wario said, pressing the gas pedal closer to the floor of the Jeep. "I hope this place is safe."

"There's no zombies around," Luigi said, trying to positive.

"For now," Wario grumbled. Those two ominous words silenced them as they reached the line of trees. The air became fresher as the tall oaks and pines by their sides welcomed them with branching arms. Following the path brought them to the sight of the two vans parked by a river. Shapes of people were soon made out.

"Hey!" the heard Toad cry. "They're back! Yahoo!"

Soon, the survivors that had left them earlier began to crowd the Jeep. Lumalee and Toadsworth nearly burst out of the van. Sheer delight lit up the faces of Mario and Peach upon seeing her safe. Wario cut the engine and put the pink vehicle in park. Opening the doors, the four of them hopped down.

"Well I'll be," DK said, giving Mario a firm handshake. "If it isn't Mario."

"As I live and breathe!" Toadsworth hollered, bustling over to everyone. "It worked! Oh this is smashing! You're all safe and sound!"

Mario made his rounds saying hello to everyone, Lumalee clinging to his side. Peach was surprised to see Tayce T. and Heff T.

"My, my, the princess made it out safe," Tayce T. said, hugging the woman. "I thought I'd never see you or that kingdom of yours again."

"I'm very happy," Peach told her. "This means others might have made it out of the city too."

"I'm happy to help," Tayce T. said. "Maybe I can make some of that terrible canned food we have taste a little better." Beside her, Heff T. smiled warmly. The reunion was sweet but short. Night would be upon them before they knew it. Gathering their supplies, everyone began to help set up camp. No one would sleep alone, not that they had enough tents to make that possible, but everyone needed an extra set of eyes in these troubling times. Tents were situated around the trees, with a string of empty cans erected in a wide border around camp. That way if any of the undead advanced upon the camp, the cans would jingle and wake the survivors up.

"The stream provides fresh water," Toadsworth said, leaning on his cane. "We can boil it and drink from it, and wash our clothes in it. Life might be hard to adjust to, but we can make it work."

"We need a fire pit for cooking," Tayce T. said. "I can use some of the rocks on the bank to make one. Why don't you give me a hand, eh?" she asked DK, whose sturdy arms could move the rocks with no problem.

"Do you think we'll be safe here?" Toadiko asked her father, Toadbert by her side. The two of them had remained quiet since they'd left the castle. It was the fear that stilled their tongues.

"For a good while, I assume," Toadsworth said, trying to remain realistic. "Why don't you and your brother help set up camp? I'm sure our tent could use some furnishing to make it feel like home."

Toadiko sighed. "This isn't home," she said.

"It is now," Toadsworth told her. She and her brother shared a sad look, obeying their father's advice and beginning to help make camp. Toadiko was right in what she had said. This camp provided protection, it was safe and very far from the city. It was their home now, but it felt nothing like what they had left behind. Sighing, Toadsworth covered his eyes with a hand and looked into the setting sun.

"Home's not home," he said, shaking his head. "Home's not home."


	3. Chapter 1-3: Run

The Dreadful End

Chapter 1-3: Run

The night had been difficult. Mario hadn't been able to get much sleep, tossing and turning within his tent despite the warm presence of Peach and Lumalee beside him. The new reality of the world clouded his thoughts. He wasn't afraid, in fact, he had faced great difficulties before. He was concerned, worried for his wife and child. He struggled with the idea that he might not be good enough to protect all of them. Not just them, but Luigi too. Everyone, really. At around six o'clock in the morning, Mario awoke with a quiet sigh, forcing his half-open eyes all the way wide.

Being careful not to make noise that would disturb the sleep of Peach and Lumalee, Mario crept out of the tent and into the dark morning. The sun was just beginning to rise, and while Mario thought he was the first to wake, he found himself wrong. Sitting at the edge of camp, pair of binoculars in his hands, was Parakarry.

"Good morning," Mario said groggily, wiping his mouth and stretching his arms into the above with a yawn. Parakarry turned, not caught off-guard, but a little surprised to be joined so early.

"The sun still rises," Parakarry murmured.

"What?" Mario asked, a little too tired to comprehend at the very moment.

"The sun," Parakarry restated himself, pointing off into the distance. "See how it still rises on the horizon. Our world has come to an end, but nature still moves forward. Oblivious to all of it, she goes on. We live and we die, but every day the sun still rises. Interesting, isn't it?"

"I suppose it is," Mario muttered. He wasn't one for philosophy like Parakarry. Of course the sun still rose, nature was…well it was natural to Mario. For the everyday motions of the world to come to a halt would be stupendous. "What are you looking for?" Mario asked, noting how Parakarry was peering through the binoculars and into the beyond.

"Trouble," Parakarry replied. "We might be far from the castle…but we're never too safe, not in this new world."

Mario had to agree with that. The sun slowly began its ascent, bathing the borders of the camp in slits of golden light as it climbed higher and higher into the sky. One by one, the members of the camp began to stir, and the order of business emerged.

"I'll get some coffee brewing," Tayce told everyone as the last of the group stirred awake. "We can't be thinkin' on dull brains now." She hobbled off to gather up some grounds and set to work boiling them in a water-filled pot over the fire. Meanwhile, everyone congregated around the open back of one of the vans. Before them stood a sea of supplies, the stuff they had ransacked from the castle before making their getaway.

"We managed to scrounge up quite a bit," Plenn T. began, checking off items. "For starters, we've got a lot of canned food. Probably…" his voice trailed off. Yes, they had a lot of food. But there was a lot of them. The amount of cans they would go through in a day would be much more than they bargained for. With the additions of Mario, Tayce and Heff T. (who was certainly going to eat quite a bit), their rations were growing slimmer by the second. "P-probably enough for a few days," he finished, his mustache wiggling in discontent.

Wario didn't like the sound of that. Grumbling, the pudgy brute turned towards Parakarry. "How are we doing on items, weapons, things like that?" he asked the mailman.

"W-well," Parakarry began with a stammer, "we've got just a few odds and ends. Mushrooms, mostly. We left behind a great hoard of fire and ice flowers. There's also more ammunition back at the castle."

"How much?" Mario asked.

"The castle is stocked with a wealth of items," Plenn T. moved in. "We didn't take everything because we didn't want to bog ourselves down in the need of escape. But…if we're camping here, we should be able to take it all little by little once a week or so."

"There's food?" Mario continued.

Peach nodded her head, Lumalee hovering beneath her. "The castle is well stocked with unperishable food."

"Then we should probably try our hand at retrieving some of this stuff," Wario said. "We could make do a lot better with some fire flowers, food, and more ammunition. It'd be nice if we had more guns to put the ammunition in."

Mario had an answer to this. "There's a weapon cache in one of the city sewers," he said at once. "Luigi and I know the place."

"N-not me!" Luigi yelped, shaking his head in cowardice. "I'm not going back to that city for a while! We all saw how many roamers that place had!"

"You're not going either," Peach said, giving Mario a stern look. "We just got you back…y-you can't run off again!"

Mario opened his mouth. "But Peach…" he began.

"I won't hear it," Peach said, moving in. "If you won't do it for me, do it for her." Her gaze moved downwards towards Lumalee. Mario swallowed.

"Then I'll go," Wario offered. "I made it through that hoard once, I can do it again."

"W-wait!" Waluigi cried. "Let me come with you this time!"

"I won't allow that," Parakarry said, cutting in. "You're our sharpest shot, Waluigi. The camp will be at a loss without you."

"Speaking of shots, some of us need to learn how to shoot," Toadette piped up. Behind her, Toad nodded in agreeance.

"We want to learn too," Toadiko said, speaking for herself and Toadbert. Behind them, Toadsworth frowned.

"Stay behind and teach these people how to shoot," Wario said to Mario, his eyes conveying a sterner drive to his words. Mario nodded in understanding, realizing he would have to sit this one out.

"You shouldn't go alone," Toadbert pointed out, adjusting his glasses. "By Boogity! Someone needs to cover your back!"

"I'll go," Heff T. said, stepping up. "I can carry a lot and I owe it to all of you for rescuing Tayce and I off the road. It's the least I can do." From her spot by the fire, Tayce looked concerned for her companion's safety. She was still away brewing the coffee, but she could hear every word of the deliberation by the van.

"Two should be enough," Wario said. "In and out. We'll take a van, enter the castle, fill a bag full of supplies, and be back out in no time flat."

"What about the weapons cache in the sewers?" Luigi asked. Wario grimaced, having forgotten that.

"Where is the cache?" Toadsworth asked. "When we left the castle, we barred the back door. You'll have to reenter by using one of the secret entrances…which happens to be in the sewers. If the cache is nearby, picking up the weapons before entering the castle would be a synch."

"It's right under the Badge Shop," Mario told him.

"Splendid!" Toadsworth cried, perhaps a bit too loudly. "The entrance to the castle is just north of there."

"Then we'll pick up the weapons and then head for the castle," Wario said. "Easy operation. Plenn T., could you lend us one of your duffel bags?"

"Sure thing," the shopkeeper said, motioning with his head to one of the large burlap bags in the back of the van. It was empty, having carried the supplies the survivors had already unloaded the day before.

"Waluigi and I will teach everyone how to shoot while you're gone," Mario said, shaking hands with Wario and then Heff. T. "Be safe out there."

Peach held up a hand to Wario, her face looking troubled. She didn't want to lose the man who had led them during Mario's absence. Tayce and Heff T. shared a tender embrace before the large toad made his way towards the van. He clambered into the passenger's seat with Wario taking the wheel. The members of the camp watched them go as they pulled away, leaving a thick cloud of dust behind them.

"They'll be back in no time," Mario said, trying to reassure those around. Behind him, Parakarry nodded.

"We can only hope," he said, a tinge of grimness to his tone.

"Let's get to work," Waluigi said, shouldering his rifle. "We shouldn't waste daylight. Let's rustle up some of those empty food cans and use them as targets." Mario nodded in agreement. Today, the survivors of this horrible outbreak would learn how to defend themselves.

* * *

"You want to keep the gun at eye level," Waluigi barked, walking down the line of posed figures. Lumalee and Diddy had been excused from the lesson, deemed as too young to be involved in such affairs. The world they were living in was harsh, but the adults refused to believe it was harsh enough to warrant a child carrying a gun at all times. Truth be told, they only had a few spare handguns besides Waluigi's rifle. They were poorly equipped for what was to come, so the run Wario and Heff T. had embarked upon was richly needed. At present, just Peach, Toadette and Parakarry held the handguns while everyone else looked on.

A bit of a ways away were a few tree stumps with cans set up on top of them. While the roamers were drawn to noise, the wide radius of empty land around them provided assurance that it would be alright to open fire out here. All three of them had the guns held at eye level. Waluigi grabbed Peach's gun lightly and repositioned it.

"The kickback could hit you in the face if you hold it so close," he warned her. "Try it there." As he fixed Peach's alignment, Mario approved Parakarry and Toadette's stance.

"One eye open, one eye closed," Waluigi told them. "Your good eye can see better that way. Makes aiming a whole lot easier. Keep those eyes on those sights!" he barked, noticing Parakarry's glance waver. The mailman quickly corrected his mistake. Surprisingly, no one needed to correct Toadette. She was a quick study.

"I might already know a few things," she said with a sly smile. "Our Dad didn't want Toad and me traveling around without a handgun. I learned a few things about it before we left home." She noticed the mention of home caused Toad's face to droop. Shaking her head clear of emotion, Toadette affixed her gaze back on the can in the distance. At Waluigi's call, the three of them opened fire. Peach missed, and while Parakarry hit his, it was wide to the left. Toadette hit hers dead center.

"Looks like we might need to open an advanced workshop," Waluigi said with a grin, cocking his head back at Mario in between a glance at Toadette. Mario nodded, approving of Toadette's skill.

The morning continued like so. Plenn T. already knew how to shoot, so he gave pointers here and there.

"It's so heavy!" Toadiko complained.

"Well, you're going to think it feels just fine when a roamer is coming at you with his arms outstretched," Plenn T. told her. Looking abhorred, Toadsworth voiced his detest for such talk around his children.

"We're not kids," Toadbert pointed out. "Plenn T. provides a reasonable point. That's why we're learning how to shoot after all, by Boogity!" They were each getting the hang of it, but without an abundance of guns, their training couldn't be put to use. They'd have to hope Wario and Heff T. would return with the needed supplies. If not…they'd all be in deep trouble.

* * *

"Sewer hole is just beyond the castle grounds," Wario said, circling a zone on their fold-out map with a red marker. "We enter here, find that cache, enter the castle here, and then we're out." He detailed each part of his plan with a stroke of the marker. Heff T. nodded in understanding.

"Sounds good," he said. "We just have to make it to the sewer cover in one piece."

"You ready?" Wario asked, raising his magnum revolver. Heff T. nodded, cocking the barrel-action rifle in his hands. With a nod of understanding between both of them, the portly men swung open the doors of the van and dropped down into the wide area behind Peach's Castle. Banding together, they crept towards the right side of the building, thankful the horde still hadn't circled around to the back of the complex. Peering out to the side of the castle with his revolver raised, Wario quickly doubled back upon sighting a straggled bit of roamers peppered throughout the streets of the town.

"The horde's broken up a bit, but there's still quite a few surrounding the square," Wario hissed, hoping he hadn't been spotted by any of the zombies.

"How are we going to get to the sewer entrance?" Heff T. asked, his voice laden with worry.

"We'll have to hoof it through," Wario told him. "Keep your gun up and don't stop. If any of them sons of bitches draw near you, put a hole in their head."

Heff T. gripped the stock of the gun, nodding. They rose from their crouched position, and on Wario's signal, trotted into the square.

The walkers were immediately drawn to them. Spaced out from one another, the closer ones shambled forward, raising their arms quickly as they smelt fresh food for the first time in a few days. They dragged their ankles and crawled forth, clawing at the open air in hopes of latching onto either of the men well out of their reach. Moving quick and heading for the manhole in front of the Badge Shop, the two of them gritted their teeth and hoped for the best.

As they continued along, one drew near Wario. He fired his gun, blasting a hole in the zombie's head. In a matter of a moment it crumpled to the asphalt, red leaking out of its head and onto the street. Shortly after that, Heff T. steeled himself and fired a bullet into the skull of an approaching zombie, cringing as brains splattered all over the tile of the square. This process repeated itself, with two or three walkers going down before the two men reached the manhole. Wario covered Heff T. as he struggled to open the sewer entrance.

"It's stuck!" the fat toad complained.

"Twist harder!" Wario commanded, emptying two slugs into two nearing zombies. They dropped to the ground, but they were quickly replaced by others. Wario swore as he realized they were closing in.

"I can't get it open!" Heff T. wailed, desperation clinging to his voice now. Wario spent his last two bullets on two more walkers. Frantic, the strong man reloaded his weapon as quickly as he could. The distance between the two of them and the horde was growing thin now. Reloading completely, Wario quickly spun the chamber and fired four shots into the square, dropping a cluster of zombies. To his left, Heff T. struggled with the manhole.

"Any day now!" Wario hollered, pointing his weapon at an approaching zombie. With a creak of metal and rust, Heff T. finally opened the manhole and threw the cover aside. He hollered at Wario and then clung onto the ladder, shimmying into the darkness below. Moving quick, Wario grabbed the manhole cover and slid after Heff T., sealing off the sunlight just before the herd toppled into the sewers below. Clambering down the stairs, Wario dropped into the muggy sewer beside Heff T., panting for breath.

"It was rusted down," Heff T. said between hot breaths of air. "T-that was hard…"

"We almost became lunch!" Wario cried. "We have to be more careful from here on out."

Heff T. couldn't agree more. Catching their breath, the two of them stood still with their hands on their knees for a few minutes before moving on. Shouldering the burlap bag Plenn T. had leant them, Heff T. leaned into the circumference of light that came from the end of Wario's flashlight. They studied the map Wario laid out before them.

"It should be right up ahead," Wario said, pointing at the encircled region on their map. Agreeing, Heff T. moved on, Wario behind him. They weren't sure if any zombies had made their way into the sewers, but they couldn't see how. The manhole had been sealed, so they assumed the others had been as well. They shuffled along the grimy walk of the sewer before coming to an alcove.

"It should be right around here…" Wario said, his voice trailing off as he looked for any sign of a cache. None could be seen.

"It's probably hidden," Heff T. surmised. "There'd be no use to keeping a secret weapons cache if any common sewer vagrant could snatch it up. Let's look around for clues."

"Jinkies, Velma," Wario joked. "I wonder if we'll figure out the answer to this puzzle."

They scoured around the alcove for a bit before returning to one another with inconclusive results.

"Perhaps it's not here?" Wario asked.

"No…wait a minute," Heff T. whispered. He moved forward, spotting a place on the wall where one of the bricks was lightly discolored. Giving it a light push, the hefty toad was surprised to see part of the wall sink back.

"Guess this cache really is secret, huh?" Wario asked his companion as he entered the small crack in the wall. Sure enough, inside were a bunch of guns and ammunition. Eyes shining, Wario loaded up the burlap bag with rifles, scopes, extra packs of ammunition, clips, handguns, and a few semi-automatics. Once they had depleted the cache of supplies, Heff T. zipped up the bag and shouldered it, groaning under the new weight of it.

"Got it?" Wario asked him. Heff T. replied with a nod.

They continued along, creeping through the dark and dank alleys of the sewer together. They took Toadsworth's word, eventually arriving at a set of doors. Thinking this may be the entrance to the castle, they heaved open the doors and stepped inside. Sure enough, they were under the castle. In fact, this is where they wanted to be. The basement of the castle is where all of the supplies were kept.

After walking along in grim silence for a bit, the pair reached the stockroom. Entering, they soon found themselves perplexed.

"What's wrong?" Heff T. asked, noticing Wario's confused look.

"I swore we had left more behind than this," Wario said, noting the large lack of supplies. While the shelves were still stocked well, Wario could tell stuff had been taken. "Perhaps we just took more than I thought," he said, chalking it up to that. "Oh well, there's still plenty. Grab some of those cans. I'll look around for the fire and ice flowers."

As Heff T. did that, Wario scoured the shelves and soon found the flowers. He brought them back and started helping Heff T. load up the bag with supplies.

"Is that everything?" Wario asked. Heff T. sighed as he placed the last can in.

"I think so," he said. "Come on, let's get out of here. Are we going up through the castle?"

"We need to unlock that back door," Wario said. "Plus, that's where the van is parked."

Agreeing, Heff T. followed Wario up the short flight of stairs leading into the heart of the castle. As they left the stockroom, neither of them noticed the face peeping out from behind one of the shelves. Clad in a red robe, a Shy Guy watched with careful eyes as the two pudgy men left the room. Turning to a Shy Guy draped in yellow, he whispered something the other found funny. Giggling, they retreated into the shadows, swallowed by the darkness of the basement.

* * *

Emerging into the resplendent courtyard of the castle, Wario and Heff T. breathed heavily as they sighted the exit door. The operation had moved along exactly as they had hoped. In and out. No fuss at all. Shuffling over to the door, Wario undid the bar locking it in place and opened it to let Heff T. through. They poured out into the light of the sun, hoping to soon be inside the van and on their way back.

Their hopes were crushed as they noticed the van was gone.

"W-what the hell!?" Wario barked. "Where's the van?"

Heff T.'s jaw began to clack. "U-uh…I-I think we have bigger problems than that," he said. Wario turned to follow his gaze, freezing at the sight of the advancing horde. The zombies had roamed to the back of the castle now. Whirling around, Wario hoped to go the other way, but another horde was coming from that direction too. It looked as if the large horde in the plaza had divided into two smaller ones that now flanked both sides of the castle.

"Quickly!" Wario cried. "Back into the castle!" Not wasting a second, Heff T. followed after Wario. Grabbing the handle, Wario made to pull the door open, but he struggled to do so as he found it was locked. "W-what's going on!?" he cried. "I just unlocked this!"

"Pull harder!" Heff T. screamed.

"What do you think I'm doing, tubby!?" Wario yelled, pulling with all of his might. "It's locked!"

Turning around, they both widened their eyes in alarm as the hordes drew closer. "We've got to head towards the camp!" Wario cried. "The land out there is sparse!"

"There's so many of them!" Heff T. whined. "We won't make it!"

"We've got to try, dammit!" Wario hollered. He grabbed Heff. T's arm, dragging the large toad along with him. Removing his revolver from its holster, Wario fired into the horde to their right, dropping two zombies. He turned to the left, hitting two more. Deciding to fight past his fear, Heff T. raised his rifle and shot a nearby zombie clean through the head, a spurt of crimson soaring from its skull and into the blue sky above.

"Go, go!" Wario screamed, trying to be supportive. They tried to pick up the pace as they realized the zombies were closing in. Breathing heavy and hot, they tried to outrun the sudden crowd. Wario wracked his brain for answers in the chaos, completely unsure of how the door had locked behind them and where their van had gone.

"The bag is too heavy!" Heff T. complain. "I've got to drop it!"

"Don't you dare!" Wario scolded him. Crying out, Heff T. struggled to maintain the pack. "Give it here!" Wario said. They stopped for but a moment, Heff T. taking the time to transfer the heavy bag to Wario. The moment was a moment too much. The horde was upon them.

"RUN!" Wario screamed, going as fast as he could. Behind him, Heff T. moved quicker now without the bag on his shoulders. They could hear the starved moans of the zombies, the cacophony of the damned reaching their ears and splitting their minds wide open. Outstretched limbs clawed for their flesh, narrowly missing. Fear propelled them forward. The hot breath of death was on the back of their necks.

"We won't make it!" Heff T. shouted between labored breaths. "We get tired, they don't!"

Wario knew this. He had seen it since the beginning. While they would slow down, the horde would keep going. Eventually, they'd tire out and be devoured by the crowd. Wario knew there was only one way.

 _No! There has to be some other way! Keep running!_

"Gah!" he heard Heff T. shout.

 _You can make it!_

"Come on!" he heard himself shout.

 _There's another way!_

"They're upon us! We'll never make it!" Heff T. boomed.

 _D-don't do it…d-don't…_

"We'll make it!"

 _Believe! You have to!_

"WE NEVER WILL!"

 _H-he's…he's right…_

"I'm sorry, brother," Wario said, looking back at Heff T. with water brimming in the bottom of his eyes. He raised his revolver, pointing it at the toad's head. He didn't want him to suffer. He just wanted him to be bait.

Heff T. looked into Wario's eyes as the horde surrounded them. He understood what was going to happen. He dove forward, snarling and growling like a wild animal fighting for its last moments alive. Wario looked ahead, steeling himself, and pulled the trigger. The shot rang out clear as a bell, whistling into the afternoon for miles. The bullet rotated through the air, slicing through it like a knife to butter. It lodged itself into Heff T.'s skull as the zombies finally latched onto him. Falling back into the horde, Heff T.'s corpulent corpse began to be ravaged by the zombies. The horde diverted its attention from Wario, averting their commands to the body. Ripping entrails from within Heff T. and onto the road below, they feasted upon him.

Wario wasted no time. Not looking back, he trudged off into the wilderness, pack on his shoulder. Tears fell to the earth beneath him. His only thoughts were of escape.

* * *

The sun was beginning to set. Mario and Waluigi had spent much of the day training everyone on how to shoot, but Tayce hadn't removed herself from the fire's side.

"They should be back by now," she told Mario as he and Waluigi neared the campfire.

"Y-yeah…" Luigi mumbled. "What's taking them so long?"

"They might have run into a bit of trouble," DK hypothesized aloud. "Should we go looking for them?"

"We don't need to send out more people," Mario replied, his leadership shining through. "It could only result in more trouble."

"So you think they're in trouble?" Toadette asked, ensnaring Mario in his own words.

"I think Wario's a competent man," Peach said, answering for her husband. "He wouldn't let anything bad happen."

"What if it's out of his control?" Plenn T. wondered aloud.

Mario's brow furrowed in worry for Wario. Wario had stayed behind to wait for him when he was lost out in the badlands. He owed it to Wario to make sure he made it back safe and sound. He and Heff T. had left early this morning, but now as the sunset approached them, Mario truly felt the first pang of worry resound within him. Was Wario ok? Heff T. too?

While he and the others pondered these questions, none of them noticed the intruders on the border of camp. A Shy Guy clad in red and his companion in yellow crept along the line of trees, a pair of scissors in each of their hands. Snipping away here and there, their task was soon done, and with a quiet pair of giggles, they retreated into sunset the way they had come.

Back to the castle. Back to a van they had hid behind a thicket of bushes. Snickering all the way back, the two of them made sure to stay far from the main path so that Wario wouldn't see them. They knew he was trudging along into the night. They knew because they had caused it. Far from their van, Wario plodded forward, coming upon the camp. He had been walking since the morning, since that dreadful event. In his hand was the limp revolver, on his back the bursting pack. He neared the camp, the pain of memory searing in his eyes.

Eventually, he neared the site. Parakarry spotted him through the lenses of his binoculars.

"H-hey, Mario!" Parakarry hissed, calling over the plumber who happened to be nearby.

"What is it?" Mario asked.

"J-just take a look," Parakarry said, handing Mario the binoculars and pointing into the distance. Feeling reproach creeping up inside of him, Mario looked through the lenses and into the dark. He saw Wario, moving forward with the pack, breathing heavy. He saw blood on his clothes.

"W-where's the van?" Mario asked.

"Better question," Parakarry said, "why is he alone?" The two shared a confused look as Wario neared the camp. Rushing out to meet him, they took the pack and watched as he dragged himself forward.

"W-Wario!" Mario cried. "W-what happened?"

Wario looked up at Mario, meeting his large blue eyes with his own bloodshot ones.

"We got ambushed," Wario said, his words coming out dead and monotone. "A whole herd of them, coming from both sides of the castle. The van was gone. The entrance to the castle was locked."

He looked between Mario and Parakarry.

"The herd grabbed Heff T., took him right out of my arms," he lied. "I-I…I barely got away with the pack. H-he…"

"I-it's ok," Mario said. "It's ok. You're here. You're safe." He led Wario into camp, Parakarry flapping close behind. They reached the blazing campfire, shocking the inhabitants of the camp.

"Are they back?" Toad asked, noting Wario's presence. "Where's the van?"

"Where's Heff T.?" Tayce asked, standing up rather quickly for her age. Mario's lips scrunched up and he gave Tayce a troubled look.

"O-oh no," she nearly mouthed, hardly unable to form words. "Oh Grambi no…oh-oh no…he h-he can't be…"

"Heff T. gave his life so I could make it back," Wario said, taking the pack from Parakarry and throwing it on the ground by the campfire. "It's full of guns, ammo, food, and supplies."

He swallowed.

"We traded Heff T. for all of that."

The weight of his words knocked a sucker punch into Tayce T.'s chest. She sunk to her knees, moaning like a ghoul into the onset of the night. Toadsworth patted her back, bringing her to her feet and leading her to her tent. Her wails petrified the group, their gaze turning to Mario.

"We use this supplies in homage to Heff T.," Mario told them. "It's because of him we have these things. He sacrificed himself so that…so that we may live."

Wario nodded. He nodded again. He just kept nodding.

"W-what do we do now?" Toadiko asked.

"We do what Heff T. would have wanted," Wario told her. "We survive."

His ominous words hung over the camp like a thundercloud. They all nodded, eager to make good on that promise. But little did they know, not far from the camp, was the groaning horde of zombies. Heff T. had been a mere snack for the zombies by the castle. They followed the scent of the blood clinging to Wario's clothes. They followed their next meal, shambling across the plains of the expansive wilderness after the flesh they eternally craved.

The survivors at the campsite hunkered down into their tents. On the horizon, the zombies drew near. Surrounding the camp, the line they had erected, complete with attached cans to alert them to the presence of tripping roamers, was gone. It had been cut away with a pair of scissors.

In just a short amount of time, the herd would be upon them.


	4. Chapter 1-4: Crisis

The Dreadful End

Chapter 1-4: Crisis

Lumalee was having trouble sleeping. Nestled up against her mother, she felt warm and safe…but the horrible thoughts about the true nature of their grim reality were haunting her. She couldn't close her eyes. Every ten seconds she would look around to make sure her mother and father were still sound asleep by her side. When she wasn't doing that, she was listening to make sure she didn't hear any of those terrible monsters. The monsters scared her more than anything else. The fear of separation, hunger, survival…they all paled in comparison to the monsters. Those slow and shambling creatures, their jaws stained with blood and their skin green and falling apart…it gave Lumalee nightmares. That was another she couldn't sleep. She didn't want to. Sleep meant nightmares, and the nightmares were so horrible…so terrible…she rebuked the thought of sleep.

As she lay there in her tent with her parents, under the stars, Lumalee felt nothing but fear. Safety did not radiate from the warm skin of her mother. Comfort did not come from the presence of her father. Lumalee was afraid. Quivering there, shaking slightly but not enough to stir her mother, the neon luma wondered how long they had. The news of Heff T.'s sacrifice had scared her to the core. Would more people have to make sacrifices like that? She closed her eyes, trying to fall asleep…but she just couldn't.

In the tent over, Toadiko and Toadbert lay next to their father. Toadsworth was sound asleep, but neither sibling could bring themselves to face the nightmares. Lumalee wasn't alone in her despair. Everyone was plagued by their dreams. Every time she drifted off to sleep, Toadiko imagined her brother being ripped apart by those hideous things that waited out there for them. She missed the city…she missed her school and her friends and her old life. Toadbert caught her crying.

"Hey," he said quietly so as not to disturb his father. "Hey," he said again, inching close to Toadiko. He wrapped her up in a hug, planting a kiss on her forehead. "Don't cry Toadi, please…we'll be okay."

She didn't know what to say. How could Toadbert say that? He didn't know what the future held. None of them did. The world had been brought to its knees and they waited for their own ends in the aftermath. She wanted to say something positive, but she couldn't. She decided to say nothing at all.

Plenn T. had decided to stay with Tayce T. now. He had figured the older woman didn't need to be sleeping alone since the loss of her traveling companion. Neither of them had been able to sleep.

"I didn't really know him," Tayce admitted. "I just met him outside of the city," she explained. "We were both struggling to escape, and we happened to spot one another. Without him…I wouldn't have made it out of the city alive. Now he's gone and I'm here…and if it hadn't been for him…oh-oh…oh Grambi…"

"He seemed like a mighty fine man," Plenn T. said, trying to sound comforting. "I know he probably gave that mission his all."

"It's funny, isn't it," she murmured. Plenn T. didn't see a single thing funny about what he had just said. Then she made herself clear. "Wario survived. How did he do it? If the horde swallowed up Heff…how did they miss Wario?"

Her words caused an uncomfortable feeling to stir in the back of Plenn T.'s brain. He banished the thought, turning over on his side. He might as well try to get some sleep.

In the tent that Toad and Toadette shared, the siblings were still talking. They kept their voices to a whisper, careful not to disturb the others.

"You sure were a sharp shot today," Toad told his sister, giving her a smile she couldn't see in the dark.

"Well, Dad taught me well," she told her younger sibling. Toadette was older than Toad by about eight years. Having wanted a boy first, Toadette's father raised her as a tomboy. He took her hunting, fishing, and most certainly taught her how to shoot. Toadette had grown up that way, so she didn't mind. In fact, she enjoyed the tomboy side of her. It made her tough. Despite her small size, she had never been bullied because of the values her father had taught her.

"I miss him," Toad said, interrupting the silence.

"I do too," Toadette said. "We could have picked a better time to head off, huh?" This elicited a quiet and short laugh from Toad. Shortly before the advent of the apocalypse, Toad and Toadette had left their home city and were travelling around the world. They had stopped in Mushroom City to see the castle and visit Peach, but then things had gone sour. They had no word from their father. Toad, being only eighteen, was terrified for his family's safety. Toadette knew he had to rely on her now.

"Remember that time," she began, "when Dad taught you how to fish?"

"Oh Grambi," Toad said, a smile creeping up onto his lips. "And we went down to the lake and I threw out that line…"

"That line!" Toadette said, a little louder now that she was feeling happier. "Just one little worm…and then a frog jumped onto to it and that snake in the bush jumped onto the frog."

"I got so scared I just dropped the line and bolted," Toad said, feeling embarrassed.

"But remember Dad?" Toadette asked, laughing. "Remember how loud he screamed? He's so afraid of snakes."

"Was," Toad corrected, the happiness quickly retreating.

"Is," Toadette corrected. "We can't give up hope, Toad. I know he's out there."

Toad said nothing. He inched closer to his sister, looking for comfort. She patted his head, hoping he'd sleep soon. They need their rest. They needed to be sharp. Sighing, Toadette closed her eyes, trying to get some sleep.

DK was wide awake. Curled up, laying against his furry chest, was his son, Diddy. Since the beginning of all of this, DK had been detached from the group. He had been helping out, yes, but he was wracked with worry. While he lived in Mushroom City with his son, his entire family lived on Kong Island. Dixie, Tiny, Cranky, Funky…all of them. He knew absolutely nothing of their whereabouts. He especially worried for Candy, Diddy's mother. She worked on Kong Island, managing a banana plant. She came home to Mushroom City every other weekend, but she had been away with things had begun. DK had tried contacting her, but the lines soon went down. He hadn't heard a thing.

Now he had just one responsibility. Diddy. He owed it to his wife. This boy by his side was his only and greatest concern. Losing him would do DK in for sure. He had to keep Diddy safe at all costs, it was his duty as a father. Troubled by what lay ahead, DK lightly rested a hand on the slumbering Diddy and kept alert, just in case anything happened upon them.

The final tent held Wario and Waluigi. Waluigi was sound asleep, his rifle lying next to him. But Wario, Wario was awake. He was deeply troubled by what he had done. He knew it was the only way to survive, but the cost of his action had been high. Remorse and guilt crept up within him, but if he told the others he had _killed_ Heff T., they'd never forgive him. He had established himself as valuable to these people at last when he took charge during Mario's absence.

He missed those moments. Those times without Mario.

Shaking his head, Wario tried to clear his thoughts. He only saw one thing replay in his mind over and over. The silent scream of Heff T. as he looked into Wario's eyes, blaming him. Heff T. knew Wario had killed him. He had looked into his eyes and played God. He took another man's life.

Wario wondered if he'd ever be the same again.

Parakarry had erected a lookout station on top of one of the vans. He and Luigi were sleeping inside the van, the group being one tent short for everyone. The two of them were taking turns being lookout. While Luigi slept underneath him, Parakarry sat in a lawn chair on top of the bed, binoculars in hand and rifle by his side. Having learned to shoot earlier, Parakarry had picked it up pretty easy. He just needed to take a deep breath, aim, and then fire.

He was repeating the process over in his mind, just in case he needed to use it, when a flicker of a shadow in the distance caught his attention. Something moved out there, in the darkness. Raising his binoculars to his eyes, Parakarry adjusted the focus and then looked out into the black. He saw it. A horde, of at least a twenty walking dead, shambling towards their camp. But what he didn't see lay behind him. On the other side, another group of about fifteen, split off from the other, was headed towards the camp. Without the cans bordering the camp, no one would hear them enter, their focus primarily on the other group coming from the front.

Parakarry roused Luigi, stomping on the tin roof of the van. It took a couple of stomps to rouse the slumbering Italian, but Luigi eventually came out of the van.

"What's up?" he asked Parakarry from down on the ground. Parakarry silently tossed him the binoculars, which Luigi almost dropped. He caught them, unsure of what to do.

"Look," Parakarry said, his voice hollow. He pointed forwards into the dark. Luigi raised the binoculars to his eyes and shivered at what he saw.

"We have to warn the others," he said at once. "I'll wake them up."

"Go!" Parakarry hissed. "Be quick!" Nodding, Luigi took off. He went to Mario's tent, unzipping the entrance and kneeling inside. He grabbed Mario's foot, shaking it until he stirred.

"Huh? What?" Mario asked, groggy from being woken up so suddenly.

"Get out here, now," Luigi hissed. Obeying, Mario instantly put on his shoes and tried to step out of the tent. Lumalee stopped him, putting a hand on her father.

"Daddy?" she asked, her voice full of fear.

"I'll only be gone a minute," he said. "Uncle Luigi wants to talk for a moment." He gave Lumalee a reassuring pat, but she wasn't convinced. As Luigi and Mario headed off to talk, she silently followed them out of the tent. Behind her, Peach was sound asleep.

"There's a herd of about twenty headed straight for the camp," Luigi said. "It's nothing we can't handle. I'll wake up Wario, Waluigi, and DK."

"Toadette too," Mario said. "She's a good shot."

Nodding once again, Luigi ran off to find those he had listed. Mario joined Parakarry by the edge of camp. The paratroopa had come down from the van, now on the ground. His rifle was clutched firmly in his hands.

"The shooting will undoubtedly wake everyone else up," Parakarry said.

Mario nodded. "Should we wake everyone?"

"That would only cause panic, but we don't need them stepping out of their tents in the middle of a fight," Parakarry explained, his wisdom making the situation perplex. "It's your call."

Mario thought for a moment. "Leave them be. We don't need everyone out here, it'll be more to manage." As Parakarry accepted his decision, Luigi arrived with Wario, Waluigi, DK and Toadette.

"What about Plenn T.?" Toadette asked. The four of them had been filled in on the situation by Luigi. In the distance, the herd drew closer. Behind them, the second herd silently continued along, coming closer and closer.

"He's comforting Tayce," Parakarry told her. "Leave them be." The seven of them were armed and ready to take down the herd. Unbeknownst to them, Lumalee floated along through the darkness, wondering what was going on. She continued her way towards the tent DK and Diddy had shared. Rapping on the door, she summoned Diddy.

"Lumalee?" the young monkey asked. "What's going on?"

"I-I don't know," she said shakily. "Your dad and my dad just got up and walked to the edge of camp…e-everyone has guns…and I'm really scared." Diddy stepped out of the tent, trying to comfort the Luma.

"It'll be ok," he told her. "Let's go ask them what's going on."

Nodding, she stood by his side and the two made their way across camp.

Back by the van, Mario was speaking to the other six. "I say we meet the herd out there. We don't need to wait until they're in camp. We got out there, shoot them all down, and call it a night."

"It's probably the herd that was chasing me," Wario said. "We can make quick work of them with this many people and our amount of ammo."

"Let's get to it," DK said, cocking the pistol in his hand. Nodding, the others followed Mario as he marched out into the darkness. They walked for about a minute before they came upon the herd. They were still a good distance away, but they could aim from here.

"Ready," Mario said, holding up his gun. Everyone aimed. "Take 'em down."

A barrage of shots fired off into the night. Bullets ripped through the heads of the undead, sending splashes of blood arcing up into the starlit sky. The crimson came down and landed on the bodies of the zombies, coating them in their own blood. As the crowd slowly moved forward, they became easy pickings for the seven shooters. It only took about thirty seconds to take down the whole crowd.

"Bastards," Waluigi said, slinging his rifle over his shoulder by its strap.

"Wait," Wario said, surveying the area. "This isn't right."

"What do you mean?" Toadette asked, stepping forward. Concern spread across everyone else's face.

"This herd…it's smaller than the one I fought with…with Heff T.," he told them. "There were at least twice as many. Where is the rest of the herd?"

Realization crept up in the eyes of the others. Their heads all turned back to camp. Before any of them fully realized what Wario's words meant, a scream tore through the night. It had come from camp.

"LUMALEE!" Mario screamed, recognizing the sound of that scream. Propelled by concern, Mario tore off back to camp. The same concern rippled through Toadette and DK. Their worry for Toad and Diddy sent them into a hysterical sprint back in the direction of the camp. Mario was the first to arrive, finding Lumalee quivering in fear. Two of the undead were shambling towards her. Raising his gun, Mario fired two shots, one into the heads of each zombie. They collapsed, dead for good.

"What are you doing out of your tent?" Mario asked, kneeling down to scold her. But he didn't see another one approaching him from behind.

"Daddy!" Lumalee screamed as the zombie drew threateningly close. A shot tore through the night. Luigi had fired into the zombie's head, saving his brother. Peach appeared from within her tent.

"Lumalee!" she cried, holding out her arms.

"Stay with your mother!" Mario told the luma, sending her over to Peach.

"DIDDY!" DK screamed, firing a slug into the head of a nearby walker. "DIDDY!"

Lumalee buried her face into her mother's chest. "D-diddy…" she whimpered.

"What?" Peach asked, holding up her daughter's face. "What happened to Diddy?"

"H-he ran off," Lumalee said. "We saw the monsters and he got scared and he just took off into the woods."

Grim realization painted itself across Peach's face. DK was out there, looking for his son, and no one knew where Diddy was.

Within his tent, Toad was horribly scared. He had the shots and the moans, but he didn't know if he should leave the tent or not. Suddenly, there was a rapping on the front of the tent. Like someone was trying to get in. Inching towards the door, Toadette grabbed the zipper.

"Toadette?" he asked, opening the entrance. In the opening hung a zombie, rabid hunger in its white eyes. Reaching forward, it fell into the tent, on top of Toad. Screaming, Toad tried to pull it off of him but it had his arms pinned down. With its teeth, the zombie ripped into his throat, pulling apart the skin and sending a river of blood leaking down onto the floor of the tent. Toad screamed in agonized pain, squirming underneath the zombie as it bit into his warm flesh.

"TOAD!" Toadette screamed, shooting the zombie in the back of the head. She rolled it off of him, dropping to her knees and beginning to cry as she saw her brother's neck. "T-Toad, oh God…oh God….oh, oh….oh…" she tried to stop the flow of the blood, clamping her hand over the wound. The crimson stains soon covered her hands. She couldn't stop the blood. There was so much blood. Toad looked up into her eyes. She met his eyes. There was nothing she could do.

"Oh…oh…Toad….oh my God…oh…" she whimpered, cradling her brother. His eyelids fluttered closed. He had lost too much blood.

"Grrr! Get back!" Waluigi cried, smashing a zombie in the side of the head with his rifle.

"Waluigi!" Wario shouted, burying a bullet in the head of a zombie that approached his friend.

"Where the hell did all of these freaks come from?" Waluigi asked, sweat pouring down the sides of his face as he reloaded his gun.

"They must be the rest of the herd," Wario spat, literally spitting on the grass beneath his feet. He raised his revolver and put down an approaching zombie. "Come on! We've got regroup with everyone!"

Waluigi nodded, following Wario into the camp.

Inside their tent, Toadiko and Toadbert huddled around their father. Three zombies were clawing at their tent, moaning and spitting up blood and viscera all of the sides of the tent. They could see the faces of the undead through the flaps of the tent. The zombies could smell them. Groaning and making guttural, demonic sounds, the zombies tried to rip the tent apart. Toadsworth poked at the sides of the tent with his cane, trying to shoo them back.

Toadbert held onto Toadiko, petting her hair and trying to calm her down.

"We'll be ok," he said, over and over. But the more he said it, the less he believed. Suddenly, the side of the tent tore open, one of the zombies able to tear the weak material apart. All three of them let out a scream as the zombies approached them. One grabbed Toadsworth's foot, ready to chomp in. But then, Parakarry and Mario were upon them. Firing off enough shots, the undead died for a second time as they collapsed to the ground. Mario and Parakarry quickly fished Toadsworth and his children out of their tent.

"Come on!" Mario yelled. "Get to the middle of camp!"

Wario and Waluigi protected Peach and Lumalee in the middle of camp. Mario and Parakarry soon joined them with Toadsworth, Toadiko, and Toadbert.

"There aren't many left!" Luigi cried, running up to them. He turned around, firing a shot into a nearby zombie. Letting out a sigh, Luigi rested his hands on his knees for a moment.

"M-mama," Lumalee cooed, wanting Peach to pick her up. Peach clutched Lumalee to her chest, crying now. Despite her necessary duties as a mother, Peach was afraid. She saw Toadette, kneeling over her brother, inconsolable.

"DIDDY!" DK screamed, searching for his son. Behind him, Plenn T. and Tayce appeared, trying to urge him away from the woods.

"Get back!" Tayce shouted, smashing a zombie's head in with her frying pan. "Get back, you devil!" She smashed it again for good measure. Then again. And again. Again. Plenn T. had to put a hand on her shoulder to get her to stop. Shaking, she dropped the pan, crashing onto the ground beside the zombie she had just killed. She wept.

"DIDDY!" DK cried again.

"Come on!" Plenn T. yelled at him, "Get away from the woods!"

"My son is out there," DK told him, shoving him away. With no further words, DK cocked his gun and tore off into the dark, entering the thick woods. Raising his gun, Plenn T. shot down a zombie that tried to follow DK. It was the last one in the camp.

Nearly dragging Tayce towards the middle of camp, she and Plenn T. were the last to reach the middle. Toadette still hovered over Toad, right outside of their tent.

"He's going to reanimate," Wario said. "We need to put him down."

"Not yet," Peach told him. "She's mourning."

"And what if her brother comes back from the dead and bites her in the neck!?" Wario hissed. "We have to do this."

"No!" Mario told him. "Not yet!"

"Where's DK?" Toadsworth asked, huddling with Toadbert and Toadiko.

"He ran off into the woods," Plenn T. told him. "Diddy ran in there when the other herd showed up. I think he got spooked."

"H-he was with me…" Lumalee said. "I-it's all my fault…I asked him to come out because I was scared…a-and then we saw the monsters…and the monsters scared him…"

"No, baby," Peach said, hugging her daughter tight. "This is not your fault. You didn't do any of this. Diddy's just hiding somewhere. He'll be back soon."

Lumalee wanted to believe her mother. She couldn't.

"In the meantime," Wario said, "what do we do about that?" He pointed the tip of his revolver at Toadette and the body of Toad. No one knew what to do. They were exhausted. The fear and the panic had worn all of them out.

"Let's try and rest," Mario told everyone. "Waluigi, Plenn T., keep guard." Both men nodded.

"And that?" Wario asked again.

"We'll deal with it in the morning."

"What if we don't have until morning?"

"It's not your call."

Anger brewed within Wario. Not his call? He had been the one calling the shots before Mario returned from the badlands. Growling under his breath, Wario turned around and headed to his tent. Giving Mario a concerned look, Waluigi tipped his hat and followed Wario. Peach looked to her husband, Lumalee in her arms.

"Let's get some rest," Mario repeated himself. "We all need it."

As the morning sun rose, Mario stepped out of his tent to find Toadette in the same position everyone had left her in. Toad was still dead in her arms. He had yet to reanimate, but he still possessed no head wound. His brain was unharmed, and at any time, he could come back to life as a bloodthirsty machine.

Sighing, Mario tightened his cap on his head and walked over to Toadette.

"Toadette," he began, but he was swiftly interrupted. Toadette took her pistol and pointed it up at Mario.

"Get back," she said, not wavering her gaze from Toad's paling face.

Taking a step back, Mario held up his hands. Toadette shooed him off by waving the gun a bit. Retreating, Mario was soon joined by Luigi and Wario.

"She's in shock," Luigi said. "She won't see reason. Toad will reanimate soon…and then…he'll bite her."

Wario nodded. "We've got to do something about this. We can't lose Toadette. She's a good shot."

"But we can lose Toad?" Mario asked, narrowing his eyes and tilting his head slightly as he asked Wario that question. A little embarrassed, Wario sheathed his pistol.

"Hey, guys," Plenn T. said, approaching the group. Waluigi was by his side. "Last night, Waluigi and I walked the borders of camp. I don't think anybody realized this at the time…but the second herd never hit the cans."

Realization dawned upon the others present.

"W-why not?" Peach asked. "We had them all strung up."

Waluigi held up a loose piece of string. "Someone cut them."

"What!?" Wario cried, taken aback. "Someone here sabotaged us?"

"No!" Mario shouted, trying to get everyone to keep their cool. "If someone cut them…" a thought dawned on his face. "Wario. You said the van was missing, right?"

Wario nodded. "Hey…yeah, someone had to have stolen the van. You think the same person cut the ropes?"

"That means they followed you all the way back here," Parakarry said. "They know where we are."

"If they took the van, they're most likely hiding out somewhere in the city," Mario said. "We need to figure out why they're trying to get us all killed."

Before anyone could do anything else, Lumalee let out a loud whimper. Every turned around. By Toadette, Toad was coming back to life. Everyone took a step forward, but Mario held them back with a wave of his arm.

In her lap, Toad stirred. He slowly opened his eyes which were now pure white with lines of red coursing through them. His jaw clacked hungrily but slowly. His brain was just warming back.

"Oh…" Toadette whimpered. She placed her forehead against his. Growling, Toad tried to grab her, but she had him pinned down. He couldn't harm here. Behind her, everyone realized this.

"Oh…" Toadette said again, crying. Her tears stained Toad's shirt. Silently, she brought the barrel of her pistol up to the side of his head.

"I love you, Toad," she said. The deafening bang of the gun rang out. Chunks blew from the side of Toad's head as he slumped against the ground. Crying out loudly now, Toadette let her head hang back.

Wario met Mario's eyes. "We're not safe here," he said.

"We need to leave," Luigi concurred.

"We'll go to the city," Mario said.

"The city!?" Peach cried. "B-but, remember that horde?"

"That was this horde," Wario told her. "There may be more there, but nothing we can't handle. The castle is on the outskirts of town. When Heff T. and I were there, someone locked the back exit behind me as soon as I went out. Someone's living in your castle, princess. And I'd wager it's the same person who got Toad killed."

Peach was silent after that. She put one hand on Lumalee's head as her daughter clung to her leg.

"What about DK?" Toadsworth asked. "He hasn't returned."

"We can't wait around on him," Wario said. Everyone looked to Mario. He agreed.

"We can't just leave him!" Parakarry shouted. "He's alive out there!"

"We don't know that," Mario said.

"We do!" Parakarry cried. "We would have heard something! A shot, something. We would have heard it."

"Do you want to wait here for him?" Wario asked, narrowing his eyes at Parakarry. Parakarry didn't like the way Wario was looking for him.

"We'll head back to the castle," Mario told everyone. "Gather up the supplies. Wario's right. Someone's taken the castle."

"What are we going to do?" Toadsworth asked him.

"We're going to take it back."


End file.
